DVD-RW Becomes DVD-ROM

I have the Studio XPS 8100 desktop.

My computer's DVD burner is the HL-DT-ST DVD +-RW GH50N. In the past it
has successfully written to CD-Rs and to DVD-Rs, including the DVD-Rs I
currently use. Now, for some unknown reason, it no longer writes to the
DVD-Rs.

While diagnosing this problem, I noticed that when I have a DVD-R in the
drive, the description of the drive in Device Manager changes...it says
DVD-ROM! To be sure I wasn't dreaming, I started ImgBurn (burning
software) and sure enough, it thought I had put a DVD-ROM into the
drive. No wonder I couldn't burn DVDs!

Before I ask that labyrinth known as Dell Support about this, I thought
I would ask the people who /really/ know what's going on. So what do you
think...what could the problem be and how do I solve it?

Daddy

On 6/18/2011 1:31 PM, Daddy wrote:
> I have the Studio XPS 8100 desktop.
>
> My computer's DVD burner is the HL-DT-ST DVD +-RW GH50N. In the past it
> has successfully written to CD-Rs and to DVD-Rs, including the DVD-Rs I
> currently use. Now, for some unknown reason, it no longer writes to the
> DVD-Rs.
>
> While diagnosing this problem, I noticed that when I have a DVD-R in the
> drive, the description of the drive in Device Manager changes...it says
> DVD-ROM! To be sure I wasn't dreaming, I started ImgBurn (burning
> software) and sure enough, it thought I had put a DVD-ROM into the
> drive. No wonder I couldn't burn DVDs!
>
> Before I ask that labyrinth known as Dell Support about this, I thought
> I would ask the people who /really/ know what's going on. So what do you
> think...what could the problem be and how do I solve it?
>
> Daddy

I dunno what your experience with optical drives are. But as far as
reliability goes, they last about as long as incandescent light bulbs.
And just like light bulbs, the first sign of trouble I replace them. And
99% or better of the time, the problem is gone.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v3.0
Centrino Core2 Duo 2GHz - 1.5GB - Windows 7

On 6/18/2011 2:31 PM, Daddy wrote:
> I have the Studio XPS 8100 desktop.
>
> My computer's DVD burner is the HL-DT-ST DVD +-RW GH50N. In
> the past it has successfully written to CD-Rs and to DVD-Rs,
> including the DVD-Rs I currently use. Now, for some unknown
> reason, it no longer writes to the DVD-Rs.
>
> While diagnosing this problem, I noticed that when I have a
> DVD-R in the drive, the description of the drive in Device
> Manager changes...it says DVD-ROM! To be sure I wasn't
> dreaming, I started ImgBurn (burning software) and sure
> enough, it thought I had put a DVD-ROM into the drive. No
> wonder I couldn't burn DVDs!
>
> Before I ask that labyrinth known as Dell Support about
> this, I thought I would ask the people who /really/ know
> what's going on. So what do you think...what could the
> problem be and how do I solve it?
>
> Daddy
Over the past 25 plus years the one constant has been that
optical drives fail with use. The write side seems to be the
most trouble prone, in my experience. So just replace it and
move on.

Pen wrote:
> On 6/18/2011 2:31 PM, Daddy wrote:
>> I have the Studio XPS 8100 desktop.
>>
>> My computer's DVD burner is the HL-DT-ST DVD +-RW GH50N. In
>> the past it has successfully written to CD-Rs and to DVD-Rs,
>> including the DVD-Rs I currently use. Now, for some unknown
>> reason, it no longer writes to the DVD-Rs.
>>
>> While diagnosing this problem, I noticed that when I have a
>> DVD-R in the drive, the description of the drive in Device
>> Manager changes...it says DVD-ROM! To be sure I wasn't
>> dreaming, I started ImgBurn (burning software) and sure
>> enough, it thought I had put a DVD-ROM into the drive. No
>> wonder I couldn't burn DVDs!
>>
>> Before I ask that labyrinth known as Dell Support about
>> this, I thought I would ask the people who /really/ know
>> what's going on. So what do you think...what could the
>> problem be and how do I solve it?
>>
>> Daddy
> Over the past 25 plus years the one constant has been that
> optical drives fail with use. The write side seems to be the
> most trouble prone, in my experience. So just replace it and
> move on.

Funny, my wife wants to do that with me.

Daddy

On Jun 18, 4:05*pm, Daddy <da...@invalid.net> wrote:

>
> Funny, my wife wants to do that with me.
>
> Daddy

Alas, your laser has defused! ^L^